


These Clouds Won't Leave

by CycloneRachel



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Headcanon, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Short One Shot, Speculation, ish?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-08-07 08:02:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16404479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CycloneRachel/pseuds/CycloneRachel
Summary: Clark is beginning to forget them.





	These Clouds Won't Leave

Clark thought he’d never forget them.

The future, in general, was something he knew- when he got back to his own time- that he’d always remember, with its bright pink skies and the distinctly-shaped Legion headquarters, and traveling through space, and everyone he met then. Hero or villain, it didn’t matter- they would always stick out to him in his mind, and he thought he’d carry them in his memories forever.

(When one has a photographic memory, as Clark did, such abilities come in handy when deliberately trying to preserve things- as he wanted to, back then.)

Which was why he thought it was so unusual, sixteen years after he left the Legion, that he did, indeed, start forgetting.

It was insignificant details, at first, and those were normal to forget- so he didn’t really think much of it until over a year later, visiting his cousin just before Christmas.

~

“Wow.” Clark said, walking into the DEO. “Pretty quiet, huh?”

“Yeah, we’re real busy here.” Kara answered. “Not much time to form a welcoming committee- even for Superman. Sorry.”

Clark hugged his cousin, with Kara hovering upward to match his height.

“It’s okay.” He said. “So, Alex is the director now?”

Kara nodded. “Yes. Trust me, we’re in good hands.” She said. “J’onn calls sometimes. But so far, she’s doing great here, on her own- more or less.”

“I can tell.” Clark answered, observing the agents sitting at the computer desks. “And, um, I can’t help but notice that Winn’s not here either.”

Kara took in a breath, then slowly let it out. “Well… yeah. About that.”

The commotion from the other side of the room had alerted one of the agents, a man on the shorter side with dark hair and brown skin, who Clark hadn’t seen before when he visited, so he knew he’d have to be newer.

“I am sorry.” The man said, standing in front of him and beside Kara, with his hands behind his back. “But… did you say _Superman_?”

Up close, Clark could see that there was something familiar about him, even though they’d never met.

“Yeah, that’s me.” Clark said, halfway raising his hand. “What about it?”

“Well- it is just that you, along with Kara, are one of my greatest inspirations.” He answered. “Especially in your battles with-“

He turned to Kara. “How many of them have there been, so far?”

“Might want to tell him your name, first.” Kara answered. “Brainy, this is my cousin, who you of course already know of. Clark, this is-“

He didn't need introductions. The moment he looked at him again, considering his voice and his eyes, he knew.

_“Brainy?”_

Brainy nodded, turning off his image inducer, revealing a version of the form Clark knew so well. His dark eyes were even more striking set against blue skin, but they were still as kind-looking as ever.

He picked him up, hugging him for a few moments before setting him down.

“Are you always this enthusiastic?”

“No!” Clark answered. “But, I should’ve figured it out earlier. I missed you so much…”

“Missed me?”

Querl didn't think of himself as someone who would have been missed. He missed his own friends- missed Winn, too, as much as he would never admit it out loud to him. But he was too much- or too little- of a person for someone to think of him in that way. And he had never met Clark before. So, the idea that he'd be missed by him, of all people... he couldn't even consider that as an honest possibility.

“Yeah. We’re best friends- or at least, we were, before I left for the second time.”

Brainy looked up at him, studying him closely.

“Alright, then. If we are such good friends, according to you, then what is my real name?”

Clark faltered. This was what he'd been the most afraid of. He'd wanted to tell him- he wished he could. But as he felt Brainy's stare on him, he knew- somehow- that, as much as he remembered that moment (how he'd sat with Brainy, after he had taken Brainiac down and lost that part of himself. Held his hands, as he told him he didn't deserve the Brainiac title... that Clark should only call him by his birth name. How difficult it had been to say at first, but it had sounded like the most beautiful thing in the world, and Brainy's face lit up as if illuminated by candles when he heard it) he would never be able to say those words to him.

“I- I, um…I don’t know anymore. Sorry.”

Neither of them were looking at each other, as Brainy said quietly, “So am I.”


End file.
